[NemoX]

Originally Posted by Mike0001 Did you open the case and disturb any cables???

Cables all intact.

Originally Posted by Dave Hybrid So your saying a fresh XP install doesn't work? XP won't install if you are either doing something wrong with the options, have a dodgy CD or you have a hardware fault. Period. What error or problem do you get when installing XP?

No thats not what im saying.

[Dave Hybrid]

Originally Posted by NemoX Cables all intact. No thats not what im saying.

So, what are you saying? What is the problem?

[Mike0001]

Originally Posted by evilfantasy If it is a SP1 CD and you updated to SP2 online, I have heard of this causing problems after a reinstall. You are supposed to uninstall SP2 prior to installing the SP1 CD. Then go get SP2 again. I say this with no personal experience though. Just what I have heard.

I have experience of this, but it is not what is happening here as he reformatted.

The problem you mention occurs if you do an in-place reinstallation of XP. I had it happen when I moved my old 160Gb drive from my old laptop into my new laptop which had a 100Gb drive. Of course, XP will not run as the signature of the new machine didn't match that of the old machine on the HDD so I did an in-place reinstall, ie, pretended that this was an upgrade to the old OS.

For me, this has always worked before, and effectively puts the laptop back to where it was at SP2 level, with no updates since then installed but with all your programs intact.
However, this time it failed in the way you described, in that the only way to install any Windows updates was to download them manually. Windows/Microsoft update just failed to install anything.

I looked on M$' website and the information there was wrong, namely, do one manual install and then all will be OK. Not so. They even describe a procedure to remove a folder but that didn't work either.

In the end I found a tool on the internet which was designed to fix this problem. It re-registered various DLLs and all is fine now. Pity M$ with its G$ of cash couldn't fix its own problems...

[Mike0001]

Originally Posted by Dave Hybrid So, what are you saying? What is the problem?

He is saying that he has a PC where, if you do a fresh SP1 reinstall on a reformatted HDD then SP2 installation causes it to crash. Possibly Facebook requires something in SP2.

I forgot to check with him if all hardware had been correctly identified in SP1. I guess that might cause problems. Also the message on his BSOD might be relevant.

So, NemoX, did you go to all the relevant sites and download drivers for all your hardware?